Hawai‘i Island is a prime resource for Hū Honua as we plan to supply our operations with locally grown and harvested biomass. The facility’s primary feedstock is eucalyptus, which grows abundantly on the Hāmākua Coast.

Hū Honua will revitalize Hawai‘i Island’s forestry industry by consuming leftover parts of the harvested tree after higher-value veneer and lumber components have been removed. Below is a breakdown of a tree’s potential use:

A viable forestry industry has many benefits: it lowers the cost of fertilizer for small farmers, keeps the countryside green and open, provides a diversified job market for the community, and delivers a renewable resource that will power our facility as well as the local economy.

Questions from community
This week we’re starting a new section dedicated to answering questions we’ve been getting from the community.

How much renewable power is Hū Honua capable of producing?The 30-megawatt plant will produce about 15 percent of Hawai‘i Island’s electrical needs, enough to power about 20,000 households. It is the only firm, renewable energy project on the island that can be operational by the end of 2018. Hū Honua can be a stable source of power that would displace the output of aging, oil-fired plants, eliminating about 250,000 barrels of imported foreign oil.

Will Hū Honua conform to the air emission standards?Hū Honua’s modern emissions controls meet or exceed current air emissions standards and comply with all applicable Department of Health and EPA requirements. The plant is required by the federal and state agencies to meet stringent air quality requirements.

Hawai‘i in the Vanguard in Transitioning to Renewable Energy
As reported by Pacific Business News, the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) shared its analysis of how quickly states are adopting renewable energy technologies to replace fossil fuels. Hawai‘i ranks fifth among the 50 states in the U.S. when it comes to shifting to renewable energy, according to the organization’s report.

UCS is a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based nonprofit science advocacy organization whose members include scientists and private citizens.

The UCS analysis used 12 metrics to rank states, including deployment of renewable energy, energy efficiency and electric vehicles, as well as policies for renewable energy adoption.

Hawai‘i ranked first in residential solar per capita and fourth in EV adoption. The Aloha State also ranked in the top 10 in eight of the 12 metrics in the organization’s “Clean Energy Momentum: Ranking State Progress” report.

Hawai‘i was also the first state in the nation to institute a 100 percent clean energy goal, which it hopes to achieve by 2045. The missing piece for Hawaii on the utility side is a renewable firm power source.